Khuddaka Nikaya - Milinda Panha - The Solving of Dilemmas VI

Khuddaka Nikaya - Milinda Panha - The Solving of Dilemmas VI

The Debate of King Milinda
edited by Bhikkhu Pesala

Chapter 13
The Solving of Dilemmas (VI)
52. Two Buddhas Cannot Exist Together
“The Blessed One said, ‘It is impossible that
in one world two Perfectly Enlightened
Buddhas could exist at the same time.’
182
Yet, Nàgasena, if all the Tathàgatas teach the same
teaching, why shouldn’t they exist together? If there were
two they could teach at ease and the world would be even
more illumined.”
“O king, if two Buddhas were to exist simultaneously
this great earth could not bear the weight of their combined
goodness, it would tremble and shake and break up.
183
Suppose, O king, a man had eaten as much food as he
wanted so that he had no room for any more. Then, if he
were to eat the same amount of food again, would he be at
ease?” “Certainly not, venerable sir, if he were to eat again
he would die.”
“Likewise, O king, this earth could no more bear a
second Tathàgata than that man could bear a second meal.
Also, if there were two Buddhas, disputes would arise be-
tween their disciples and, moreover, the statement that
says the Buddha is supreme and has no equal would be-
come false.”
182.M. iii. 65; A. i. 27; Vbh. 336.
183.At the birth of the Bodhisatta the earth shook seven times

“Well has this dilemma been explained. Even an
unintelligent man would be satisfied, how much more a
wise one.
184 Well said, Nàgasena, I accept it as you say.”
53. Gifts to the order
“When Mahàpajàpatã Gotamã offered a bathing robe185 to
the Buddha he told her, ‘Give it to the Order, Gotamã. If you
give it to the Order I will be honoured and the Order too.’
Was it because the Order is more important than the
Buddha?”
“O king, it was not because an offering to him would
not bear great fruit, but in order to show the greatness of
the Order so that in times to come the Order might be
esteemed. As, sir, a father praises his son in the royal court
thinking, ‘If he is established here now, he will be honoured
by the people after I am gone’. Or suppose, O king, some
man should bring a present to a king and the king present-
ed that gift to someone else — to a soldier or a messenger
— would that man therefore become superior to the king?”
“Certainly not, venerable sir. That man receives his
wages from the king and it was the king who placed him in
that position.”
“Just so, O king, the Order did not become superior to
the Tathàgata merely by the fact of a gift. There is not, O
184.Both Rhys Davids and I.B. Horner have translated the Pali: kiü na màdiso mahàpa¤¤o.
“…how much more then a wise man like me.” This makes Milinda seem conceited and
I can’t see any reason for translating the passage like that.
185. Vassikasàtikaü, see Pàcittiya 91. In the Dakkhiõavibhaïga Sutta (M iii 254), Mahàpajàpati
offers a pair of cloths (dussayugaü) that she made herself.

king, any being more worthy of gifts than the Tathàgata,
186
for this was said by the Blessed One himself:
“There is one being; monks, who is born into
the world for the good and benefit of many, out of
compassion for the world, for the advantage and
benefit of gods and men. Who is that being?
A Tathàgata, an arahant, Buddha supreme.”187
54. The Advantages of a Recluse’s Life
“The Blessed One said, ‘I would praise either a layman or a
monk who has practised rightly and attained the right
method.’
188 If a layman, enjoying the pleasures of the senses,
dwelling with wife and children, and using scents and
accepting gold and silver, can attain arahantship, what is the
advantage of being a monk with a shaven head, dependent
on alms, fulfilling one hundred and fifty precepts189 and
adopting the thirteen ascetic practices? Your austerity is
without effect, your renunciation is useless, your observance
of the precepts is barren, your taking of the vows is vain.
What is the use of heaping up hardship for yourselves if bliss
can be reached in comfort?”
“It is true what you say, that the one who is practising
rightly is best whether he is a monk or a layman. If a rec-
186.The author seems to have missed the point here. cf. M. iii. 256: “But when I, ânanda, say
that an offering to the Order is incalculable and immeasurable I by no means say that a
gift graded as to individuals is of greater fruit than an offering to the Order.
187.A. i. 20.
188.M. ii. 197, A. i. 69.
189.Excluding the 75 training rules there are 152.

luse, thinking ‘I am a recluse’ does not practice rightly, then
he is far from recluseship. How much more then a house-
holder in a layman’s clothes! Nevertheless, the benefit of
being a recluse is too great to measure. Being of few desires
he is easily contented, he is aloof from society, strenuous,
homeless, he fulfils the precepts, he is austere and skilled in
the practice of shaking off defilements. That is why he can
quickly accomplish any task that he undertakes; just, O
king, as your javelin, because it is smooth and straight, can
quickly reach its target.”
55. The Practice of Austerities
“When the Bodhisatta was practising austerity with the
utmost exertion he did not reach his goal, so he abandoned
that practice thinking, ‘Might there not be some other way
to liberation?’
190
Yet when instructing his disciples he said:
“Bestir yourselves, renounce,
Exert yourselves in my teaching,
And destroy death’s army
As an elephant a house of reeds.”191
“Why then did the Tathàgata instruct his disciples to follow
a course that he himself had abandoned?”
“Because then, O king, and still now too, that is the
only path and it is along that path that the Bodhisatta
attained Buddhahood. Although the Bodhisatta, exerting
190.M. i. 246.
191.S. i. 156, Kvu. 203, Thag 256.

himself strenuously, reduced the food he was taking to
nothing at all, and by that lack of food became weak, yet
when he returned to the use of solid food, it was by exertion
that he attained Buddhahood. There was no fault in
exertion itself but it was due only to the lack of food that
exertion failed to bring its result. If a man, through too
much haste, were to become exhausted and fall down,
unable to go on, it would not be the fault of the earth that
he fell down but due to his excessive exertion. If a man
were to wear a robe and never have it washed, the fault
would not lie with the water but with the man. That is why
the Tathàgata exhorted and led his disciples along that very
path; for that path is always ready, and always right.”
56. Reverting to Laylife
“Is it right to admit laymen to the Order before they have
attained to the path of stream-entry? If such men give up the
monk’s life people might think that the religion is fruitless.”
“If, O king, there was a pond of pure water and a man
in need of a bath went there but turned back without
bathing would the people blame the man or the pond?”
“They would blame the man.”
“Even so, O king, the Tathàgata has constructed the
pond full of the pure Dhamma thinking, ‘Those who have
defilements but are intelligent can remove their defile-
ments here.’ However, if anyone should revert to the
household life without having removed his defilements,
then the people would blame him, there would be no rea-
son to find fault with the teaching. If only stream-winners

were allowed to go forth then going forth would not be for
the sake of purification. If a man, having had a bathing
pond dug, said, ‘Let only those who have already bathed
make use of it’ would that be of any use? Moreover, those
who revert to the household life thereby show up five
special qualities of the conqueror’s teaching. They show
how glorious it is, how pure it is, how free from association
with evil, how difficult it is to penetrate the Dhamma and
how many are the restraints of the holy life.
“How do they show its glory? Just, O king, as a man
of low birth, poor and unintelligent, who comes into pos-
session of a mighty kingdom, will soon be overthrown and
deprived of his glory. So too, those who are without wis-
dom and have little merit, when they renounce the world,
are unable to carry out the teaching of the Conqueror and
revert to the lower state.
“How do they show its purity? Just, O king, as water,
when it falls onto a lotus, slips off and cannot adhere to it;
so too, those who are impure by nature, crafty and holders
of wrong views; when they have been admitted to the
religion of the Conqueror, it is not long before they disperse
from that pure and faultless religion, unable to adhere to it.
“How do they show its freedom from association
with evil? Just as the ocean does not tolerate the presence of
a corpse but quickly brings it ashore and casts it on dry
land; so too, O king, those who are evil-minded and lazy
are unable to remain in the Order in association with the
arahants who are free from stains.
“How do they show how hard the Dhamma is to
penetrate? Just, O king, as those archers who are clumsy

and unskilled are unable to perform feats of archery like
hair-splitting but miss the target; so too, those who are dull
and stupid and renounce the world are unable to grasp the
Four Noble Truths of the Conquerors, which are extremely
subtle, and missing them, turn back to the lower state.
“How do they show the manifold restraints of the
holy life? Just, O king, as a coward, when he has gone to a
battle and is surrounded by the forces of the enemy on all
sides, will turn back and take flight for fear of his life; so
too, whoever are unrestrained, shameless, impatient and
fickle, when they renounce the world they are unable to
carry out the manifold precepts and revert to the lower
state.”
57. The Mastery of the Arahants
“You say that the arahant feels only one kind of feeling;
physical feeling but not mental feeling.
192 How can this be
so? The arahant keeps going by means of his body. Has he
then no power over his body? Even a bird is the ruler over
the nest in which it dwells.”
“O king, there are ten conditions inherent in the body
over which the arahant has no control: cold, heat, hunger,
thirst, excrement, urine, fatigue, old age, disease and death.
Just as all beings living on the great earth depend on it but
have no control over it, so the arahant depends on his body
but has no control over it.”
“Why, Nàgasena, does the ordinary man feel both
192.Untraced

bodily and mental feeling?”
“Because of the untrained state of his mind. Like a
hungry ox tied up by a weak grass rope would easily break
free, so an ordinary man’s mind becomes agitated by pain,
so he feels mental pain too. However, the arahant’s mind is
well trained, so when his body is affected by pain he fixes
his mind firmly on the idea of impermanence. His mind is
not agitated and he feels no mental pain, just as the trunk of
a great tree is unmoved by the wind although its branches
may sway.”
58. Heinous Crimes
“If a layman had committed a heinous crime193 before he
entered the Order but was unaware of it, would he be able
to attain the path of a stream-winner?”
“No, he would not, because the basis for understand-
ing the Dhamma has been destroyed in him.”
“But you say that to him who is aware of an offence
there comes remorse, which causes an obstruction in the
mind, and so he cannot comprehend the truth.
194 Yet in him
who is unaware of his offence there is no remorse and he
remains with peace of mind.”
“If, O king, a man had eaten poison but was not aware
of it, would he still die?”
193.The Pali has Pàràjika (offence of defeat) but a layman cannot commit these offences.
What is meant is: killing one’s mother, one’s father, an arahant, drawing blood from a
Tathàgata or violating a nun (the Sinhalese also gives damaging a bodhi tree). One
guilty of these offences should not be ordained. If they are ordained they should be
expelled.
194. cf. A. iii. 165, “One who does amiss is dejected and knows not the mind’s release.”

“Yes, venerable sir.”
“Just so, O king, even though a man was not aware of
his offence he would not be able to comprehend the truth.”
“Surely, Nàgasena, this must be the word of the
Conqueror and to look for any fault in it is vain. It must be
as you say; and I accept it thus.”
59. The Unvirtuous
“What is the difference between a layman who has done
wrong and a monk who has done wrong?”
“There are ten qualities that distinguish a monk of
poor moral habit from a layman of poor moral habit: he is
full of reverence for the Buddha, Dhamma and Saïgha; he
recites the scriptures and asks about the meaning, he has
heard much, he enters an assembly with dignity because he
fears reproach, he guards himself in body and speech, he
sets his mind on exertion, he is in company with the monks,
and if he does any wrong he is discreet. Furthermore, in ten
ways he purifies gifts of faith. By wearing the robe of the
Buddhas, by his shaven head he bears the mark of sages, by
being in company with other monks, by his having taken
refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Saïgha, by his dwell-
ing in a lonely place suitable for exertion, by his quest for
the wealth of the Dhamma, by preaching the excellent
Dhamma, because he takes the Dhamma as his guiding
light, because he regards the Buddha as supreme, and by
his observance of the Uposatha.
195 For all these reasons he is
195.The full moon and new moon days on which the monks recite the disciplinary rules.

worthy of offerings even though he has fallen from virtue.
Just as hot water extinguishes a fire, a monk of poor moral
habit purifies the gift of benefactors, for this was said by the
Tathàgata in the Majjhima Nikàya:
“Whoever is virtuous and gives to the unvirtuous,
A gift rightfully acquired, The mind well pleased,
Firmly believing in the rich fruit of kamma,
This is an offering purified by the giver.”196
“Wonderful, Nàgasena, though I asked you an ordinary
question you have given me an extraordinary answer, as a
skilled cook would take an ordinary piece of meat and
make with it a meal fit for a king.”
60. Is Water Alive?
“There are some followers of other sects who say that you
harm life by making use of cold water.
197 When water is
heated in a vessel it makes various sounds; is this because
it has a soul and is alive?”
“No great king, it is not alive. Water that is lying in
shallow pools gets dried up by the heat of the sun and wind
but it does not make any sound. Drums make a sound but
they do not contain any life or living principle.”
—}{—
196. cf. MLS. ii. 41 n 4; D. i. 167.
197.M. iii. Sta. 142